


THE BITTER BROTHER

by MAGNETIC_DOG



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Parents, Angst, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Child Abuse, Childhood Trauma, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Physical Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Pre-Canon, Self-Hatred, What We Don't See
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:01:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22455391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MAGNETIC_DOG/pseuds/MAGNETIC_DOG
Summary: Everyone knows Leon McCrae, the undefeated champion of the Galar region. Everyone knows the story of his rise to success, his supreme skill, and his sharp mind. But...does anyone really know his little brother?While the champion lived life glamorously, his brother Hop was raised in a nightmare.The boy always tried to boost his own confidence. Promise himself success. Promise himself love, even. But it seemed as if things like that would only ever be given to his brother, the champion.--Please heed the warnings in the tags.Updates will come when I can finish them. Please be patient!
Relationships: Hop & Yuuri | Gloria
Comments: 5
Kudos: 41





	1. Prequel

It was a fond memory. Something the boy could often look back on with a smile. That calm day before Leon left with Sonia on his journey to challenge the Galar gym league.

Hop couldn't have been any younger than 6 when on that day, his elder brother approached him. Sweetly and gently, as Leon always tended to be, Leon spoke to his little brother, kneeling down to level.

"Hey bud," Leon told the little boy with a smile. "I know even with Gloria around, you're probably gonna be pretty lonely once I leave for the league. So I got you a new friend to keep you company."

"Really?!" Young Hop perked up excitedly, and bounced up and down. "Who?!"

Always charmed and amused by his little brother's excitement, Leon laughed a little as he fished a pokéball out of his pocket. He gave a minute for his brother to stare at it in wonder, before letting him toss it. In a bright, swift flash, out of the pokéball came a big, soft wooloo. It was almost bigger than the boy himself! The wooloo bleated sweetly, shaking it's head and waving it's silver locks.

The young boy let out a loud, overjoyed gasp. “A wooloo!”

Hop ran up to the pokémon and gave it a big hug. “Thanks so much, Lee! I promise I’ll take good care of it!” 

The pokémon blated once more, as if in agreement. It already seemed to like the company of this little boy a lot.

Watching his brother play with his new pokémon, Leon couldn’t help but smile. If there was anything in this world that always granted him immediate solace in face of grief or anxiety, it was seeing his little brother happy. Though Leon had felt pretty confident about the gym challenge, he couldn’t seem to shake all the nagging fears he had. He couldn’t even shake the dread of potentially losing to the first gym, despite it being grass-type. His little charmander would be able to handle that in its sleep. In seeing Hop so happy with a new pokémon though, Leon could feel almost all of his anxieties melt away. If Hop was happy, he could be happy.

Leon stood and perked up at the sound of Sonia’s voice out in front of the McCrae family house. “Hey, Leon! We should get moving. The train for Motostoke is set to leave soon!”

“I’ll be comin’ in a minute, Sonia!” Leon called back.

He turned back to Hop and approached the little boy, once again kneeling down to be at level height. “I gotta leave now, Hop. Be good to that wooloo, alright? I can already tell that it trusts you a lot. Stay safe, and remember to stay out of the Slumbering Weald, okay?

Little Hop got up and hugged his older brother tight. “Okay Lee! I hope you can beat all of the gyms!”

Leon patted the boy’s head. “Heheh. I hope I can too, Hop.”

With that, Leon left for the station with Sonia. And that had been the last truly joyful moment Hop would have in his life for a long time.

Hop wouldn’t deny for a second that Leon was a good brother to him. A great brother, in fact. Despite how absent Leon was in the matter his champion business and new handling pokémon matches, he would always make whatever time he could for Hop and the rest of his family. Even though Leon was always busy, he never, ever missed Hop’s birthday. He never, ever missed out on Holidays. Even if by chance he would, Hop could still guarantee getting a package full of presents in the mail, complete with a long letter full of good wishes and rambles from his champion brother.

Even though Leon was always the sweetest person ever.

Even though Leon was always making time for Hop, despite tight schedules.

Even though Leon was always catching friendly pokémon to keep Hop company.

Hop couldn’t help but hold strong resentment towards his older brother. 

Despite how well he treated him, Leon was the indirect source of all of the misery Hop went through in his childhood.

Leon was the successful child of the family. He was the straight honors student. The trophy winning athlete. The beloved son of McCraes, and the idol of Postwick and Wedgehurst. He was the undefeated champion of the Galar region.

What was Hop?

Hop was nobody.


	2. Gloria's Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi!!! Sorry it took so long to update this fic! The chapters here are so far notably shorter than others I've written for fanfics, but I don't mind it as I think it works for this story.
> 
> Also, for those following my other fanfics, I plan to give "A New Palette" multiple chapters, and I'm writing chapter 6 of "That Scary Man"!

Before Hop ever took on the Galar gym challenge out of bitterness and a desire to prove himself, he only ever had one person he could call a true friend. And that was Gloria.

Despite all of Hop’s troubles, Gloria would stick by through and through and support him, her almost being a second sibling and her mum being like the mum Hop could never have.

After Leon’s success of becoming Galar’s champion, it would’ve been a few years before Gloria got good wind of what was really going on in Hop’s family life. She always knew Hop was a lonely kid, and seeked a lot of affection. She thought it was just the way he was though. 

Late afternoon in Postwick, Gloria sat lax on the living room couch, watching one of the great champion Leon’s latest matches on her rotom phone.

The champion’s matches were always such a treat to watch. Such swift, seemingly effortless moves. Of course Leon put in the effort, but arceus did he make pokémon matches look like the easiest crap ever.

There was no question as to why Leon was admired the way he was. Especially by Hop.

He knocked down the opponent’s last pokémon, and, as always, rose as the victor of the match, striking his signature pose.

Hearing a knock outside, Gloria turned off her phone and got up from her seat on the couch. She walked over to the front and opened it to see...Hop.

Seeing Hop at her door wasn’t a rare occurrence. He came over all the time. But this was something different, and she could immediately tell something serious had happened.

Hop stood at the door, his arms crossed, head hung low, visibly bruised and injured.

She paused for a moment, unsure what to make of the situation, and then finally asked, “Hop? A-are ye good?”

He looked up at her, his eyes welling with tears, and without warning, pulled her into a tight hug as he started to cry.

Returning the embrace, Gloria called, some urgency in her voice. “Mum! Come oan over here!”

Gloria’s mother ran in from the kitchen to the two children.

“Oh goodness!” She put her hand to her mouth in shock. “Hop, sweetheart, come over here!”

Hesitantly, Hop released Gloria and faced the girl’s mother. He approached her cautiously, almost as if he was afraid she was going to hurt him. “M-Ms. O’Neal…”

Ms. O’Neal examined him a little, holding his face and seeing a black eye, a bruised, cut cheek. She then looked over both his arms to see more bruises, cuts, and a scrape on his left elbow.

“Hop, honey,” She let go of his arms and rested a hand on his shoulder. “What happened to you?”

Hearing that question struck fear into the boy’s heart, and he began to shake, eyes wide, like a frightened little yamper. He was afraid to answer her question…

After his fearful silence persisted for over a few minutes, Ms. O’Neal spoke again, a little stern, but still taking care not to sound mad at the little boy.. “Hop, if somebody hurt you, please tell me. I promise you will not get in trouble.”

"Um...I," Hop hesitated. "I don't know i-if...I should-"

"Hop," Gloria interjected, her voice raised and impatient. She'd startled both him and her mother. "Of course ye should! Yer not the kinduh lad tae just mess around in the outdoors and get yerself messed up like this! If someone hurt ye, point a finger and I'll punch oot that rocket's lungs!"

Hop took a deep breath and thought for a minute. He could trust the two of them. Gloria, they'd been friends as long as he could remember. Ms. O'Neal, she was a better mother to him than his own mother was. So...

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Can...can the two of you keep it a secret?"

"Why in the bloody heck do you want it a secret? Let me tear 'em apart, Hop!" Gloria demanded, angrily shaking her arms like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

"Please don't Gloria!" He piped up, alert and worried. "Please! It...it was my dad!"

...She fell quiet in shock.

And that'd been the day she'd grown far more protective of him than she'd already been.

His parents were hurting him, and from then she'd wanted nothing more than to adopt him as her own brother.


End file.
